Don Ledingham’s Learning Log

I'm off for the next three weeks so no more posts until the 7th August. However, I might be stick some photos on my
Flickr site.

I’ve been working on the Multiple Metaphor Model of change for a few weeks and was indebted to Rob Lewis who suggested some key questions which could compliment the metaphors.
Around the same time that I received Rob’s questions I came across the notion of Appreciative Inquiry. In order to try out the model I used [...]

I spoke to
Professor Mike Pidd this morning about Soft Systems Methodology and public services. Mike was surprised that so few public services have taken up SSM as an approach to improve their practice. I came across an interesting article which Mike had written about a soft systems view of
performance measurement in public services.
Mike referred to [...]

I met Ann Johnston and Alison Hunter, who represent our school and community library service. In a wide ranging discussion we considered the place of libraries in the development of learning and teaching in East Lothian and the place of community libraries in community learning and development.

As the librarian at Dunbar Grammar School, Ann [...]

We broke our record for individual visits to exc-el.org.uk yesterday with 822 visitors. Not bad for the summer holidays. Only 178 short of the daily target we set ourselves for the summer.

I’m enjoying having some to do some research around the
multiple metaphor model of change management I’ve been developing over the past few weeks.
I came across an interesting methodology today called
Appreciative Inquiry – a new one on me.
Anyone who knows me will understand why I’m taken by this approach, particularly given this analysis by Fitzgerald et [...]

I had a very productive meeting with Tom Shearer, Head of Community Services; Margaret O'Connor, Manager, Community Services and Alison Wishart , our link Education Officer with a Curriculum for Excellence.
We explored four key questions about the links between education and community learning and development (CLD):

What's currently on offer in our communities for young people [...]

Thie two tasks I've completed this week are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of change management.
The
multiple metaphor model tries to capture the complexity of the change process. For some people I suppose this will seem woolly and ambiguous and of little apparent benefit. At the other end of the spectrum is the
Child [...]

I’ve pulled apart the most recent new-format
HMIe inspection report of the education functions of Clackmannanshire Council undertaken in May 2006
THE CHILD AT THE CENTRE
The various headings I’ve identified all feature in the actual report.
It would be my hope that something like this would form the basis of our 2006 Standards and Quality Report and the [...]

Spent almost all of today writing up the Task Management Tracker for our Service Improvement Plan with Sheila McKendrick.

This is an initial version but there's plenty gaps to be filled in by the people leading each element. It should be in a complete form by the end of August.

Service Improvement [...]